Potatoes are one of those things you assume are veggie / vegan friendly but often aren’t! Traditionally, the roast potatoes we have for Sunday roasts or Christmas dinners are cooked in animal fat (such as goose or duck). This is how I like to make golden, flavourful roast potatoes using only plant-based / vegan ingredients and without excessive oil.
INGREDIENTS
The basics:
Maris Piper potatoes (these are the best potatoes for a fluffy interior due to their starch content)
Olive oil (both to create our dressing and for cooking the potatoes in)
Aromatics:
Garlic
Fresh rosemary
Fresh sage
TIPS
Some people really like super-crispy roast potatoes; I like them sometimes, but they aren’t my preference for a roast dinner – if you like this kind of potato then a little cornstarch can help achieve that effect even more so than simply tossing them in the pot.
The most important thing for me to get the desired results are: 1. ensuring you parboil the potatoes in water that is cold and gradually brought to the boil on the hob to ensure even cooking, 2. using plenty of oil to prevent sticking, 3. leaving plenty of roasting time for your potatoes, and 4. ensuring you turn them once or twice so all sides become nice and golden. With these steps, you can’t go far wrong! (I chose to use a little less oil here but you can go to down if you want a really dark colour.)
Vegan Rosemary and Sage Roast Potatoes
Roast dinner side
Ingredients
- 850-900g of waxy potatoes
- 2 cloves of garlic (or 1 large clove) (roughly chopped)
- 2 tbsp of olive oil (plus plenty extra for cooking)
- 1 sprig of rosemary (c.2g) (chopped)
- 1 sprig of sage (c.2g) (chopped)
- Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 180C
- Peel and cut the potatoes into chunks of your desired size
- Add them to a saucepan filled with cold water and bring to a rolling boil over a medium-high heat (this will take c.10-15 minutes) and boil for a further 10 minutes
- Generously drizzle olive oil into the bottom of your roasting dish
- Drain the potatoes and toss them in your cooking pot to fluff them up before adding them to the oven dish, drizzle over more olive oil and season with salt and pepper
- Combine the chopped sage and rosemary with the garlic and 2 tbsps of olive oil to make a dressing
- Roast the potatoes for at least 45 minutes, turning the potatoes with a pair of tongs after 15 and 30 minutes to crisp on multiple sides, adding more oil as required
- Drizzle the dressing over the potatoes when they’re almost done and cook for a further 5-10 minutes until golden and crispy
Let me know if you try my vegan roasties this Christmas!
But First, Food 
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